1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to third party verification services. Such services can be used, among other things, to confirm a customer's intent to buy a product or service.
2. Background of the Related Art
There are many instances when a vendor of goods and services must obtain independent third party verification of a customer's intent to purchase goods and services, and/or that the customer is empowered to enter into the transaction. One common example is where a customer agrees to switch from one long distance telephone service provider to another. Under current FCC regulations, a long distance telephone service provider who convinces a customer to switch must obtain proof that the customer is authorized to make the switch, and that the customer desires the switch. One common way of obtaining this proof is to obtain independent third party verification of the customer's intent and authorization to make the switch.
Currently, several companies provide the independent third party verification service to the seller's of goods and services. Typically, the independent verification service provider will employ many live telephone operators who perform the verification process. A description of how a typical independent verification process works, in connection with a switch of long distance telephone service providers, is provided below.
To begin, a sales agent of a long distance telephone service provider will call a customer who is currently using a different long distance service provider, and the sales agent will attempt to convince the customer to switch service providers. If the sales agent is successful, the sales agent will then pass the customer off to a live operator at the independent third party verification service. In some instances, the sales agent may provide the live operator at the independent verification service with some customer-specific information, such as the customer's telephone number, name, address and social security number. The sales agent will then terminate his connection with the customer and with the independent verification service.
The live operator at the independent verification service will then ask the customer a series of questions to verify that the customer desires to make the switch to a new service provider, that the customer is empowered to make the switch, and in some instances, to verify that the customer understands the terms of the new service agreement. The customer's oral responses to the operator's questions are recorded to provide proof that the customer authorized the switch to the new telephone service provider.
The independent third party verification service is relatively expensive for the telephone service providers. The high cost of the independent verification service is due to the need to pay a significant number of live operators to perform the service, thus ensuring that enough live operators are standing by to handle all the verification needs for the sales agents.